A Brutal Masterpiece Blow-After-Blow: Trump-Loving Stunt Lawyering Has Consequences (Please be advised this post contains strong and explicit language)

Justice might sometimes be delayed but not in this case when multiple lawyers being sanctioned attempted to raise a variety of terrible arguments as to why they shouldn't be held accountable for their blatant abuse of the judicial system.

Sidney Powell, Lin Wood, And A Bunch Of Other Trump-Loving Lawyers Hit With Sanctions In Michigan

Legal Issues

from the these-assholes-deserve-everything-coming-to-them dept

Mon, Aug 30th 2021 1:38pm — Tim Cushing

Here's just to get you off to a soft start and to encourage you read the details

Insert >

 "Former Trump lawyer/current conspiracy theorist/lawsuit defendant Sidney Powell has one more thing to add to her extremely dubious CV: sanctions.

Next  The attorney general for the state of Michigan -- one of the states alleged to be the home of election fraud by Sidney Powell and her like-minded associates -- pressed for sanctions, using Powell's own statements against her. Powell claimed her statements about election fraud were nothing more than heated hyperbole that no reasonable person would have believed were facts when seeking to have Dominion Voting Systems' defamation lawsuit dismissed. Michigan's AG noted this same "hyperbole" formed the basis of the election fraud lawsuit she had filed in Michigan, which basically meant Powell expected the court to take her wild speculation as credible and potentially provable facts.

You can't have it both ways. Powell is now being sanctioned, along with several other lawyers (including L. Lin Wood) who participated in this harmful waste of government resources. The sanctions order [PDF] is a brutal masterpiece. It runs 110 pages and it details everything wrong about Powell's actions and allegations. Someone give Judge Linda Parker a raise. . .

This is the opening paragraph, which gives the reader a pretty good idea how the rest of the order is going to run. If that reader is one of the lawyers being sanctioned, this paragraph is a swift punch to the solar plexus. Unfortunately for those particular readers, it's only the first blow in a sustained, impeccably delivered beating.

This lawsuit represents a historic and profound abuse of the judicial process. It is one thing to take on the charge of vindicating rights associated with an allegedly fraudulent election. It is another to take on the charge of deceiving a federal court and the American people into believing that rights were infringed, without regard to whether any laws or rights were in fact violated. This is what happened here. . .

> Blow after blow.

The sanctity of both the courtroom and the litigation process are preserved only when attorneys adhere to this oath and follow the rules, and only when courts impose sanctions when attorneys do not. And despite the haze of confusion, commotion, and chaos counsel intentionally attempted to create by filing this lawsuit, one thing is perfectly clear: Plaintiffs’ attorneys have scorned their oath, flouted the rules, and attempted to undermine the integrity of the judiciary along the way. . .

> This is directed at Powell and her defamation lawsuit defense:

It is not acceptable to support a lawsuit with opinions, which counsel herself claims no reasonable person would accept as fact and which were “inexact,” “exaggerate[ed],” and “hyperbole.” Nor is it acceptable to use the federal judiciary as a political forum to satisfy one’s political agenda. Such behavior by an attorney in a court of law has consequences. Although the First Amendment may allow Plaintiffs’ counsel to say what they desire on social media, in press conferences, or on television, federal courts are reserved for hearing genuine legal disputes which are well-grounded in fact and law.

> Then there's L. Lin Wood. He claims he shouldn't even be facing sanctions because he was not officially part of this lawsuit. . .

> Other attorneys trying desperately to distance themselves from this lawsuit now that it's sanctionable fare no better. Emily Newman claimed she only spent about "five hours" on the lawsuit and performed that work at home. So what? asks the court. . .

> The same goes for Gregory Rohl, whose argument that he didn't spend much time on the lawsuit completely backfires. . .

> Also sanctionable was the lawyers' refusal to dismiss the lawsuit once it had become moot. The legal theory cited isn't actually legal.

Plaintiffs’ attorneys maintain that this lawsuit was no longer moot after December 14 because three Plaintiffs subjectively believed that they had become electors. The attorneys cite no authority supporting the notion that an individual’s “[personal] opinion” that he or she is an elector is sufficient to support the legal position that the individual is in fact an elector. Of course, such a belief is contrary to how electors are appointed in Michigan.

This refusal resulted in more filings by those being sued, forcing them to expend time and money to address claims based on nothing more than speculation and a strong desire to return Trump to office. Very sanctionable. . .

> And at this point, we're only halfway through the decision. I suggest you read the whole thing, but here are a few more highlights: ..............................................................................................

> This is brief but brutal:

Plaintiffs alleged that certain acts or events violated the Michigan Election Code when, in fact, they did not.

The affidavits presented as evidence were just as garbage as the allegations:..............................

.........................................................................................................................................................

> And then there's this hysterical First Amendment argument, which is capably dismantled by the judge.

In response to the State Defendants’ supplemental brief, instead of explaining what efforts they undertook to investigate the veracity of the affidavits, Plaintiffs’ attorneys argue that they “never stated that lawyers cannot be held to account.” “Instead,” they argue, the motion to dismiss “justifies lawyers being afforded the same type of Constitutional protections as journalists,” “who . . . would lose the protection afforded to them by the Supreme Court . . . if they were ‘drawn into long court battles designed to deconstruct the accuracy of sources on which they rely.’”

Attorneys are not journalists. It therefore comes as no surprise that Plaintiffs’ attorneys fail to cite a single case suggesting that the two professions share comparable duties and responsibilities. Perhaps this confused understanding as to the job of an attorney, and what the law says about the attendant duties and obligations, is what led Plaintiffs’ counsel to simply copy and paste affidavits from prior lawsuits. Perhaps not. But what is certain is that Plaintiffs’ counsel will not escape accountability for their failure to conduct due diligence before recycling affidavits from other cases to support their pleadings here. . .

>  Here's everyone that's affected by this sanction order, as listed on the Michigan attorney general's website:

Sidney Powell - Texas;  
L. Lin Wood - Georgia;  
Emily Newman - Virginia;  
Julia Z. Haller - the District of Columbia, Maryland, New York and New Jersey;  
Brandon Johnson - the District of Columbia, New York, and Nevada;  
Scott Hagerstrom - Michigan;  
Howard Kleinhendler - New York and New Jersey;  
Gregory Rohl - Michigan; and  
Stefanie Lynn Junttila - Michigan.

On top of this, other lawyers engaged in similar "election fraud" lawsuits are being hit with sanctions in Colorado. And the Texas Office of the Chief Disciplinary counsel is now looking into stripping Powell of her license.

Good. Fuck these guys.

 > They decided to turn a sore loser's wild ass claims into legal proceedings, relying on a choir of the converted to provide supporting "evidence."

> And they refused to back down, even when the Department of Justice itself (while still headed by Bill Barr) found no evidence of election fraud.

> They played to the base and lost.

> They catered to conspiracy theorists and Trump loyalists that coalesced in a raid of the Capitol building in hopes of preventing certification of election results -- a raid that culminated in several deaths and several hundred criminal prosecutions.

Stunt lawyering has real consequences. These attorneys will now be paying the legal fees and costs incurred by the multiple Michigan government entities that were forced to defend themselves from this baseless lawsuit.

Filed Under: elections, fraud, kraken, lin wood, sanctions, sidney powell
Companies: dominion 

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